The Shortest War in History

It will take longer to write this post than the duration of the war.  Much longer.

The combatants were the British Empire and the Sultanate of Zanzibar.  Want to guess who won?

We will get to that, but let’s start further back.

Though I knew nothing of Zanzibar’s location on the map or its history, the very sound of its name was synonymous with “romantic and exotic” in my mind when I was a child.  Its story has proved my young imagination correct.  Its position and its protected, defensible harbor made it a base for voyaging traders from time immemorial.   Arabs, Indians, and Africans had used it as such for millennia when the Vasco Da Gama arrived and assumed control of it in 1499.   It took the Ottomans two hundred years and at least two shooting wars to unseat the Portuguese for good in 1698.

Sultan Seyyid

Afterwards, under the control of the Sultanate of Oman, the island became a center of agriculture and an important post for trading ivory and slaves.

During the 19^th century Scramble for Africa, the British set their sights on Zanzibar. Its main potential uses: it would give them a leg up in their competition with the Germans for control of East Africa AND they could claim it as key to abolishing slavery.   The Empire’s progress there came in diplomatic fits and starts until 1856, when the Brits recognized Sultan Seyyid Said, who in return gave their East African ambitions his support, favoring them over their German rivals.

But… and since this is about a war, there must be a “but.”   Said’s heir, the pro-British Hamad bin Thuwaini, died on August 25^th 1896, whereupon Hamad’s nephew Khalid bin Barghash took over in a coup d’etat.

The treaty between Her Majesty’s government and the Sultan Seyyid had given Britain the right to approve of who ruled Zanzibar.

The Brits saw that Khalid threatened their favored position and would play the Germans and the British off against each other.   They were most seriously  displeased.  They much preferred another heir, Hamud bin Muhammed, who would be their man.

The game was afoot.

Khalid had 2800 men with him in the fortified palace and an armed yacht anchored in the harbor.  The rest of the regular Zanzibar Army was elsewhere on the island and under the command of General Lloyd Matthews, formerly a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy.  Needless to say, Khalid was not getting any help from that quarter.

On August 26^th, the Brits moved in with five cruisers.  They also landed a few platoons of Royal Marines.  They delivered an ultimatum to Khalid: Stand down and give up the palace by 9 tomorrow morning or you will be toast.  Khalid ignored the order.  Big mistake.

On August 27^th, at 9:02 in the morning, Rear-Admiral Henry Rawson gave the order to open fire.  That volley set the Sultan’s palace afire and destroyed the defenders’ artillery.  The British sank the HHS Glasgow, the Zanzabari royal yacht.  Khalid’s retreating troops fired a few desperate shots at the Brits.  At 9:40 AM, a final shot from the HMS Thrush’s 12-pounder brought down the Sultan’s flag at the palace and the war was over.

Khalid absconded to the German embassy and eventually escaped to German East Africa on the mainland.  The British puppet, Sultan Hamud took the throne.

Five hundred of Khalid’s men—largely composed of civilians and slaves—were killed or injury.  One British sailor was wounded.

And the way was paved for the Brits to gain hegemony over British East Africa (now Kenya).  You can meet some of those Brits—real and fictional—in my Strange Gods, which will launch on June 24.

Annamaria - Monday